Sundays

Ihad a very long Sunday. Started off at church for 8.15 service then I went and taught my 4/5th grade class and then went and spent some time chatting with people while Dawn sorted out VBS decorations. I spent the afternoon trying not to fall asleep! I practiced my guitar and wrote some stuff and then went to band practice for 4. Then there was youth and as soon as youth was over I went with some of the girls to get some dinner- the interesting part of my day.

We arrived at the resaturant before 8 and it was a disaster. We all ordered at the same time. Amanda wanted a chicken wrap but apparently they were out of wraps even though they had wraps for quesadillas but not for a wrap so we asked for a specific order made up. Then we waited for a while to get our food. Everyone got their food before me. In fact everyone had finished their food before I even got mine. Amanda and Bailey both needed a drink to finish their meals and even though they asked 4 different people it still took over 20minutes for them to get a drink!

Then they ordered ice cream while I finished my food. Half an hour later they still didn't have their ice creams. Also they were out of VANILLA ice cream (?!) and they didn't have any cheese to make cheese fries. It was nuts!

Not only that but the table next to us ordered their ice creams after us but got them before us- and they ordered 8 ice creams, which all came wrong!! We both complained and ended up with 50% off the meals. Was quite amusing talking to the people next to us- they were from NYC- but still a disaster!
Just thought you'd all like to know! Hope you're well.xo.

The final curtain..

So I'm back again not knowing what to write. It's not that I've just stopped living, it's just that I don't do much different stuff or I don't know how to describe the stuff I'm doing!

The big points though...

• Saturday 14 th was Kathy prom night. I didn't get to see her off cause I was away at a church thing but I did get to see lovely pictures and of course was one of many to find out that she was crowned Prom queen. I think it really made her year!
• Sunday Charlie couldn't be at youth so I had to lead it. HAHAHA. I actually managed to survive- even though we didn't cancel band. If I heard one more person complain about the song choice though!
• Wednesday we had a pizza party for the preschool class as Thursday was their last day. They graduated on Thursday night. It was quite a cute show, with a lot of singing! They gave me chocolates and a picture of the class. It was weird being at a graduation for 5 year olds. The only other graduation I'd been to was my mum's from queens!
• Friday night was Kathy's graduation from High school. A slightly less entertaining affair. The evening wasn't going too badly until the speaker got up and gave us a sermon. He talked about acrostics of AWESOME and BIBLE. I did nearly fall off my seat laughing at one stage though. The video found at the link above has been viewed a few times by Charlie and I for use during Middle High VBS. The part that makes me laugh the most is the "hello" part. So when the speaker at the graduation said "hello"(four times!) I found myself laughing a lot more than anyone else.
• Saturday night we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant. I decided to be brave (again) and have fish. It was actually quite nice and I had a lot of fun with the family. The best part of course was the dessert. I had chocolate mousse and mmm...It was yummy.

Looking ahead my LAST month will be spend packing (AH, please pray I fit it all in to my suitcases and that it weighs less than the limit!) and of course VBS.

I feel like Vacation Bible School, and our theme Serengeti Trek, has taken over my life. I am a music director, with Charlie, so I get to do a skit with Serengeti Betty and I get to introduce the night and then I get to lead actions! Also I get to spend the entire evening doing the actions with individual groups of kids- at least I'll get lots of exercise. I think I'm going to need some prayer for the week of June 13 th-17 th so that I don't freak out or just stand there when I get stage fright!

The update I've been putting off

Normally I avoid writing because I have nothing to write. This time I avoided writing because I have way too much to write.

It all starts way back when, in April in fact, when I took a 6 hour flight (technically two 3 hour flights) to the OC. I went to a Children's ministry conference with Dawn and Jen. It was very good.. Inspiring and exciting. I really love working with children!

They were also really funny. One of the guys that attends the church is an Emmy winning puppeteer. He has such a cool puppet voice and sang all about a "one ton tomato". Hilarious. He also got some guys up to copy a really stupid skit that actually had me crying cause it was so funny!

So the church we were attending was Saddleback, the church started by Rick Warren author of Purpose Driven life. It has 40,000 members!!!!! Such a nice church with pretty new buildings and stuff. It started 25 years ago with 7 members and is the first church to have 10,000 members but no building!! They have a website you can look at to find out more interesting facts.

So the Sunday I got back from the conference I was totally excited about Children's ministry and got some new ideas on how to interact with the kids. It really has been working. I feel like I'm building friendships with them rather than just teaching them- and they are learning their bible verses for the next week of class! The first Sunday was nice because one of the girls, Jessie (who is pretty new) came running back to class 10 minutes after it had ended to show me that her Tamagotchi had evolved. She's so cute. She's been back 5 weeks in a row and every week she's as excited as the first. Could be because I let them play twister!

The Monday and Tuesday after were spent on Staff retreat and I spent most of the time smiling and nodding. I'm a professional now! I did talk a little bit and told about one of the things I learnt at the conference.

I found out that I'm a golden retriever! I'm also pretty high beaver too! There are 4 different animals...

The lion- Driving, Ambitious, Pioneering, Strong-Willed, Forceful, Determined, Aggressive, Competitive, Decisive, Venturesome, Inquisitive, Responsible.

The otter- Magnetic, Political, Enthusiastic, Demonstrative, Persuasive, Warm, Convincing
Polished, Poised, Optimistic, Trusting, Sociable.

The golden retriever- Relaxed, Resistant to Change, Nondemonstrative, Passive, Patient
Possessive, Predictable, Consistent, Deliberate, Steady, Stable.

The beaver- Worrisome, Careful, Dependent, Cautious, Conventional, Exacting, Neat, Systematic, Diplomatic, Accurate, Tactful, Open-Minded, Balanced Judgment.


Which one are you?

On Saturday we had another work day. My team was Charles, Lora, Eli and Patricia- two couples! I first thought, "Charlie what are you thinking?" but they worked really well together. Then I found out our task- painting an entire house. I suck at painting. It actually worked out really well though. We finished the house after working from until and the couple were so happy. I was happy that they were happy. It was a fun day although I really hurt yesterday and kind of today.

Yesterday was mother's day in America. A hard day cause I miss my mummy. But Dawn has been so good to me and Sharon has been just like a grandma. It's really nice to be apart of their family. We went on a boat trip after church yesterday along the canal at the back of the house. It was lovely. I spent the time up the front of the boat with Dawn and Sharon just catching and enjoying the breeze. Becca was out in a tube at the back of the boat with her friend Kristina. They were bouncing about on the wake. It was quite a funny sight!

I did get a little sunburnt yesterday but nothing compared to Kathy and Christine cause they didn't wear any sun cream. It was a fun day though. We went out to dinner afterwards and I managed to get Gary to be nice to me for another full day (running joke) by eating a piece of steak- GROSS! I really was nearly sick. I also tried some hog fish stuffed with shrimp, which was edible. I preferred my coconut shrimp though!

When we came home last night we did presents. I bought Dawn a gift voucher and made her and Sharon cards. It was so much fun to make them and then I filled in the entire card with my tiny writing. I didn't think I had anything to write and then I ran out of space!

I also made my parents cards and I'm so excited about them getting them next month.

Okay, so that's you pretty much up to date with my crazy life. I'll write soon, I promise.

xox.